Clarifying 70 Years of Whitewashing and ... - Shelomo Alfassa

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Page | 16 German railway would take us to Poland, A dreadful cry burst forth. The train moved out. Out of the narrow windows of the wagons could be seen the fluttering hands. We, who stayed behind in the building, burst into bitter tears… 100 A contemporary report from the World Jewish Congress, enlightened the world to the Bulgarian peril: …We only know that the attitude of the Bulgarian authorities towards the Jews, and above all towards those Jews of the Greek provinces that are provisionally being controlled by the Bulgarians, has been inhuman and ferocious as that of the Nazi authorities themselves…Let’s on this occasion remark once more that the measure of Jewish deportation to Poland has been applied just as vigorously in Eastern Macedonia and Western Thrace, which are being administered, as we have already said above, by the Bulgarians. 101 On the morning of March 22, 1943, some 2,300 Macedonian Jews 102 from the Monopol were forced to board a train consisting of 40 cattle cars. From the trains could be heard the cry in Judeo-Spanish, “Ayudo, Agua” (Help, Water). 103 Families journeyed together, and the transport included at least 134 small children no more than four years old, and at least 194 children between the ages of four and 10. 104 The train arrived at Treblinka six days later, several people died enroute. The overwhelming majority of these Jews were from Skopje. On March 25, German and Bulgarian soldiers loaded about 2,400 Macedonian Jews onto a train made up of freight cars. All the Jews from Shtip, who numbered 550, were on this second transport, as were about 2,000 Jews from Skopje and Monastir. Each wagon carried between 60 and 70 people with all their baggage. The people came out of the building carrying their belongings on their backs. Everyone was carrying things, from the oldest person to the youngest. With bowed heads, all approached the black train. In front of each wagon stood a German and a Bulgarian policeman checking off a list. 105 It was impossible to sit down in the freight cars. As soon as the ‘livestock’ had been loaded into a car, it was locked and sealed. The last train carried around 2,400 Jews, approximately 2,300 of whom were from Monastir. The Jews began boarding the freight cars at 6am on March 29 and by noon the train was full and enroute to Treblinka. Not long after the deportation, an edict from the Council of Bulgarian Ministers ordered the liquidation of the property left behind by the Jews, this would include personal property as well as communal. 106 On March 22, 25, and 29, 1943, Jews from Thrace 107 were deported. The Jews had a Bulgarian police escort to the port town of Lom on the Danube River 108 where they were then placed on boats for Vienna, a 100 Albert Sarfati’s testimony in Oren. 198 101 Letter by A.L. Molho, Cairo October 12, 1943; “Notes on the Present Situation of Greek Jewry” from a February 1944 WJC Report, in Documents on the History of Greek Jews: Records from the Historical Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. University of Athens: Kastaniotis: Athens, 1999. 283 102 Macedonia included: Skopje, Shtip. Veles, Prilep, Ohrid and Monastir (Bitola). 103 Kolonomos, Jamila Andjela. Monastir Without Jews. New York: FASSAC, 2008. 67 104 USHMM Website “The Holocaust In Macedonia” 105 From the testimony of Albert Sarfati 106 Cash and valuables were given to the Bulgarian national bank, and moveable assets were gathered in special warehouses. The Jewish property was sold for pennies, and the money collected was handed over to the Commissariat for Jewish Affairs. (Yad Vashem Website ‘Monastir During the Holocaust’) 107 Thrace included: Serres, Drama, Kavala, Xanthi, Komotini and Alexandroupolis 108 Yad Vashem. “Bulgaria” The Fate of the Jews Across Europe Murder of the Jews of the Balkans and Slovakia. 2010 www1.yadvashem.org/yv/en/holocaust/about/09/balkans.asp. Judaic Studies Academic Paper Series / Library of Congress ISSN No. 2156-0390 © Shelomo Alfassa (shelomo@alfassa.com)
Page | 17 journey of great torment. 109 Once in Vienna, they would be reboarded onto trains and further shipped to Treblinka, 110 where upon their arrival they were immediately gassed. 111 One deportation from Lom, Bulgaria never made it to Vienna, and while there are two different accounts of its demise, what we know for sure—is that all the Jews onboard perished. The boat was the Karageorge, and all 1,100 Jews were killed, either when the ship overturned (or on some accounts) they were shot to death by Bulgarian and German soldiers while in the water. 112 In total, Jewish men, women and children from 23 different Balkan communities of ‘New’ Bulgaria, Thrace and Macedonia were murdered. 113 Bulgarian Jews in the Public Eye Today Several bills and resolutions have been entered into the United States Congress which have marked Bulgaria ‘saving 50,000’ but these Congressional actions never mention what Bulgaria did to its the Jews in ‘Old’ Bulgaria or ‘New’ Bulgaria. Often, they go unchecked, as this the one did on March 4, 2003: “Commemorating the 60th anniversary of the historic rescue of 50,000 Bulgarian Jews from the Holocaust and commending the Bulgarian people for preserving and continuing their tradition of ethnic and religious tolerance.” 114 In regard to this resolution, Prof. Israel Borouchoffa, 115 an American citizen, and one of the Holocaust survivors from ‘Old’ Bulgaria, wrote an impassioned letter to Congressman Tom Lantos saying: The above resolution specifically names and glorifies King Boris III, head of the fascist Bulgarian government, an anti-Semite and staunch ally of Hitler, as savior of Bulgaria’s Jews…In December of 1941, Bulgaria, with Boris III at the helm, declared war on the United States of America. He signed the agreement of February 22, 1943 to send to the gas chambers of Treblinka 11, 343 of our brethren from Thrace, Macedonia and Pirot, lands that comprised and integral part of Bulgaria…The claim that “old” Bulgaria rescued all of her 48,000 Jews, and that the size of the country’s Jewish population actually increased, as stated in the resolution, could not be further from the truth! It is a grave insult to the descendants of the victims, as well 109 Kohen, Hayim Vedat. “The Jews of Bulgaria During the Shoa.” in Azses, 136 110 Treblinka was a German extermination camp in occupied Poland near the village of Treblinka. Between July 1942 and October 1943, around 850,000 people were killed there, more than 800,000 of whom were Jews. (Niewyk, Donald L; Nicosia, Francis R. The Columbia Guide to the Holocaust. Columbia University Press: New York, 2000. 210) 111 Arad, Yitzhak. Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka: The Operation Reinhard Death Camps. Indiana University Press: Bloomington, 1987. 143 112 ‘Confirmed at the German post-WWII trial of Beckerle, German Ambassador to Bulgaria’ (Yitzchak Kerem in The Shoa in the Sephardic Communities. 141) 113 Dear. 80 (The Thracian and Macedonian old-time Sephardic religious communities and their numerous synagogues and priceless books were all destroyed forever. The unique Spanish culture of these Jews, as well as their unique Spanish folklore with its Turkish admixture became extinct as a living culture.) 114 H. CON. RES. 77 - Whereas the people of the United States and the Republic of Bulgaria respect all faiths, including Judaism and Jewish culture... - Mr. WILSON of South Carolina (for himself, Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania, Mr. LANTOS, Mr. BEREUTER, Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN, and Mr. ROHRABACHER) 115 Borouchoff, retired Professor of Music from Michigan State University, was born in Kiustendil, Bulgaria, in 1929. His father, Yako Baruch, was a successful lawyer. In 1943, his father was instrumental in convincing Dimitar Peshev, former deputy chairman of the Bulgarian National Assembly, to prepare a letter of protest to Prime Minister Bogdan Filov – signed by 42 of his colleagues – which helped successfully stop the deportation of Jews from ‘Old’ Bulgaria. Judaic Studies Academic Paper Series / Library of Congress ISSN No. 2156-0390 © Shelomo Alfassa (shelomo@alfassa.com)
Page 1 and 2: Clarifying 70 Years of Whitewashing
Page 3 and 4: Contents Abstract 4 Background 6 In
Page 5 and 6: Page | 5 partnership with the Nazis
Page 7 and 8: Bulgaria Officially Partners with t
Page 9 and 10: Bulgarian Jews Made Slave Laborers
Page 11 and 12: Page | 11 These Bulgarian Jews were
Page 13 and 14: Page | 13 their excitement and thei
Page 15: Page | 15 property was looted and s
Page 19 and 20: Page | 19 deaths. These 50,000 Bulg
Page 21 and 22: The Bulgarian Government Propaganda
Page 23 and 24: Page | 23 obtain foreign economic a
Page 25 and 26: Page | 25 Jews of Bulgaria suffered
Page 27 and 28: Appendix 1. Suggested Redress for t
Page 29 and 30: Newspaper Clippings Appendix 2. Pag
Page 31 and 32: Page | 31 Judaic Studies Academic P
Page 33 and 34: Page | 33 Judaic Studies Academic P
Page 35 and 36: Skopje, Yugoslavia, Jews rounded up
Page 37 and 38: Lom, Bulgaria, Bulgarian officials
Page 39: This paper resides at http://www.al

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